Sermon Tone Analysis

Main Idea

boldness, prayer, and unity are what define godly communities

During Steve Jobs’ tenure with Apple, he gave many amazing and impactful presentations.

Many of us remember his presentations about the new features of the iPhone and the growing list of other devices as he paced back and forth on the stage in his iconic black turtleneck and jeans.

Though he had many philosophies on what makes a great presentation, there is one that is often quoted because of its simplicity and effectiveness.

That is, when giving a presentation to your audience, you always structure it like this:

Tell them what you’re going to say.

Tell them.

Tell them what you’ve said.

It’s simple.

It’s memorable.

It’s effective.

Why?

Because you help them see in summary what they are about to learn.

When they learn it, they can digest it better because they already see the outline in their head.

And finally, the information is summarized again, so it sticks with you after you leave the building.

Many great presenters and Pastors use this method, whether they got if from Steve or not.

If you notice, I just this method.

I give you an outline at the beginning, I follow that outline during the sermon, and then I try to boil it all down for you for the conclusion so you have some good chunks of meat to chew on during the week.

So, I say this, because our text today is a summary of what we have already learned so far.

Luke is looking back at giving us the primary nuggets of truth that we need to chew on as we move forward.

This means that the information isn’t new.

It is things we have already seen, but my prayer for our time today is that we see it from a fresh perspective and further internalize it so it changes us in the best possible ways.

Passage & Outline

Prayer [vv.

23-30]

Boldness [vv.31, 33]

Unity [vv.

32, 34-35]

Introduction to a new player [vv.

36-37]

I - Prayer

Prayer is the first thing this expanded Christian community did after the first recorded persecution.

And, if you look closely, they didn’t pray to be exonerated from future hardship.

In its fullness, the prayer was a prayer of praise.

It was an exaltation of God’s nature, sovereignty, and nature.

But, it was also scripturally based, and this is a reminder that you pray rightly when you pray scripturally.

You speak to God in prayer with your voice, and God speaks to you through his Word.

Part 1 - A prayer that exalts God’s nature

Begins with “Sovereign Lord”.

This is an acknowledgment of God’s ability to control the events of human history.

We will see this in more detail in just a moment, but I want us to recognize how the apostles and early church viewed God’s interactions with man.

They were not simply Deistic in their praise - meaning they didn’t praise God as a Deity who built a machine, programmed the way it should operate, then just hit the start button and let it do its thing.

He doesn’t create systems and then observes from afar.

God is a Sovereign Ruler (which is what Lord means) who is in control of human history.

They saw this in how Jesus was murdered and they see it in how the Christian community is being built and expanded.

They followed Jesus’ model of prayer by beginning the way they were instructed, which was “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by your name.”

Your name is to be exalted above all others.

You are completely holy and set apart from anything else in creation.

All of the focus, glory, and honor are due to you, O God… and not to any creature that you have made.

Then praises God as the Creator of all things.

I like to call this the Praise of Genesis because they go back to the very beginning.

In the beginning, God created the heavens, the seas, and the dry land.

Then he populated those sections of creation with life: angelic beings, birds, fish, land animals, and humans.

God existed before all things and in Jesus, all things came into existence.

This is an extension of the ‘Hallowed by your name” part of the prayer because only God could be so powerful, creative, and perfect to design the finely-tuned world that we see.

Part 2 - A prayer that praises God’s omniscience.

God is all-powerful.

God declares the end from the beginning.

This is what Isaiah declared in chapter 46 of his book and it is what we see the early church praising God for in this section, and they do it in two different ways.

First, God foretells his activities.

Embedded in their prayer is Psalm 2:1-2, which says:

Psalm 2:1–2 (ESV)

1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed...

This is a Messianic psalm, which means that it had a real-world application when it was written, but it also had a futuristic element that pointed to the Messiah.

Now, Psalm 2 has 12 verses, yet only two are mentioned here.

Why?

Because in the midst of their praise, they were tying together the futuristic meaning of this Psalm and therefore, exalting God for his omniscience (or the attribute that shows God to be all-knowing).

As it pertains to Jesus, who is the Anointed one mentioned in the psalm.

This is God’s Messiah we are talking about here whom the nations rage against.

The reason they stop at verse two is that they then make the real-world connection.

Second, they praise God for the Psalm’s fulfillment.

the nation of Israel did rage and plot His murder.

You see this firsthand from the gospel accounts.

Pilate and Herod were Roman officials who were complicit in Jesus’ trial and execution.

They were Gentiles that were directly involved.

The Jewish leadership and the general community were also present to cry, crucify him!”

So, we see that if you lay the people described in Acts 4:27 overtop the people mentioned in Psalm 2:1-2, they match perfectly.

Herod, Pontus Pilate, Gentiles, and the people of Isreal did rage against and plot the murder of God’s Anointed Messiah - Jesus of Nazareth.

But they don’t stop there!

They even go so far as to acknowledge that, while these people sinned and are held accountable for the actions of their darkened hearts, these deeds are still done in accordance with whatever God’s hand and plan had predestined to take place.

Though they are explaining the most egregious crime to ever take place on this earth - the death of the Son of God - they still saw that it could have only taken place by God’s predestined plan.

And, instead of looking at this and concluding that God is just a sadistic man in the sky holding mankind like puppets on marionette strings, they saw this as a comfort!

How, you might ask?

Because if God designed such a horrible thing to bring about the way of repentance and salvation for mankind, then I can have certainty that anything I go through - as a child of God - has been granted by my Heavenly Father that will ultimately result in His praise.

What on earth can man really do to me when God is ultimately in control?

That is why they didn’t move on to a prayer for deliverance from persecution, but rather they prayed for the opposite because they knew the rest of the Psalm.

So, let’s turn there and see what they saw:

Psalm 2:3–12 (ESV)

3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.

5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”

7 I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.

8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.

9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” 10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.

11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.

Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

you see, they knew the end of the story.

God laughs at the futile attempts of men to thwart his purposes.

He will establish his Anointed One and if you do not submit and kiss his hand, you will perish in his wrath.

That is the God I serve!

Thirdly, they prayed for boldness.

Their exact prayer was: